Portuguese
President Anibal Cavaco Silva ratified the law that allows abortion in
the predominantly Catholic country, reported the Associated Press.

The
law, which failed a public referendum but was pushed through the Parliament by
socialist Prime Minister Jose Socrates, allows unrestricted abortion through the 10th week
of pregnancy.

Though he gave his formal consent to the new law, Cavaco, a
Catholic, described abortion as “a social evil to be avoided.”

Cardinal Pell: Religious Revival in Australia

Cardinal George Pell of Sydney said there
is an openness to the Gospel that didn’t exist in his country 25 years ago, the
daily newspaper The Australian reported.

Speaking to a packed Easter Mass gathering
at the Cathedral of St. Mary, the cardinal said there was a revival of
religious interest among many young people who “are drawing the unsurprising
conclusion that money, materialism and self-seeking don’t bring meaning or
peace of mind.”

“What is surprising about teenagers today is not the
percentage who are hostile to institutions,” he said, “but the larger
percentage who will listen to the Christian message spoken from any agency with
conviction and sympathy.”

Missionary Sisters Aid Trafficking Victims

Women religious from various orders will
run a crisis center in Benin City, Nigeria, to aid women who are escaping human
traffickers or forced prostitution, AllAfrica reported.

The center, which is scheduled to open in
mid-2007, will be supported financially by Caritas-Italy and the Committee for
Charitable Interventions for the Third World of the Italian Bishops’
Conference.

Consolata Sister Eugenia Bonetti (above) said that the
center “will have 18 beds, and aims to provide shelter for youths returning to
the country for various reasons, such as voluntary return or mass expulsion,
mental illness or other types of illnesses, and who are needing protection or
are rejected by their families.”